As the A-League hits a February frenzy of football, Tom Smithies and Matt Comito chart the key for each side for the rest of the season.
ADELAIDE UNITED
Needs: long-term security. In many ways, United have hit a very happy groove, sitting in third place on the back of two wins and two draws in their last four games, and more youngsters coming through the ranks.
While it’s true that they have played more games than anyone else, having dodged the worst of the coronavirus postponements, United have also kept their form up in the wake of Ben Halloran’s exit, and knowing that Stefan Mauk is also likely to leave once his Japanese visa arrives.
But with rumours of a change in ownership swirling around the club, having certainty over the future would give Carl Veart’s side even more confidence to chase table-topping Melbourne Victory.
BRISBANE ROAR
Needs: to find some consistency. Two victories from three games had seen the Roar launch off the foot of the table to sit five points outside the top six. But a 2-1 defeat at Newcastle proves the Roar remain in a fight to get anywhere near the finals.
The Roar started the season on an abject run of form, scoring just one goal in four consecutive losses. Warren Moon’s side haven’t turned into world-beaters since, but wins against a Perth Glory side emerging from quarantine and an underperforming Western Sydney had granted Brisbane the points on the board they so desperately craved.
But losing to Newcastle in filthy conditions showed how much work lies ahead if Moon wants to emulate last year’s progress to the knockout stages of the season.
CENTRAL COAST
Needs: more leaders. Appropriately enough for a team that plays so close to Brisbane Water, there is a tidal quality to the Mariners side that Nick Montgomery has put together.
At its best their football can have the force of a violent undertow, thanks to the kids he has deployed – but the ebbs and flows of the team still revolve around the wizened head of Oliver Bozanic. Their defeat of Sydney FC earlier in the season was a case in point, as he directed the forward traffic until picking up a knock and dropping deeper – and the rest of the team took their cue in sitting off the Sky Blues, who might have been ripe to concede more.
Now Monty has to find a way of allowing his young charges to express themselves in a way that can be independent of Captain Ollie.
MACARTHUR
Needs: Apostolos Giannou to fire. Macarthur’s off-season recruits are sizzling, notably Daniel De Silva and Craig Noone who have adapted to their new roles in the Bulls system with aplomb. But fellow signing Tomi Juric has played just 30 minutes in two appearances this season, and despite his best efforts Lachie Rose has largely failed to shoulder the scoring burden with three goals from seven leading the line (though the most recent of those was spectacular).
Giannou arrived in Campbelltown as a January recruit, and the fringe Socceroos forward looks set to fit the mould up front for Ante Milicic’s side.
MELBOURNE CITY
Needs: to repeat history. A club-record winning streak of six games helped Patrick Kisnorbo’s side shrug off a sluggish start to the 2020/21 campaign and shoot into premiership contention, and a similar run would do the reigning champions a world of good this time around.
City sit fifth on the Isuzu UTE A-League table after nine games in 2021/22, with plenty of reinforced clubs around the league providing healthy competition for their crown. But another winning streak of similar length could blow City’s competitors out of the water.
MELBOURNE VICTORY
Needs: a tougher defence. If it’s true, as some philosophers would have us believe, that the future can be mapped out from patterns of the past, then Tony Popovic has some thinking to do.
For all that Victory sit top of the Isuzu UTE A-League table after playing eight games, there’s a statistic which shows what Victory’s Achilles heel may be.
In the two seasons that Popovic won the Premier’s Pate – with Western Sydney in 2012-13 and Perth in 2018-19 – his side had the best defensive record, conceding respectively 23 and 21 goals in 27 games.
Compare that with how Victory sit, having conceded 10 goals in eight – a record that only five teams have produced worse than – and not having kept a clean sheet in the A-League since the second game of the season.
NEWCASTLE
Needs: structure to go with style. In football, as in life, there are quantitative and qualitative ways of looking at a situation. Look at the numbers, and the Jets’ season so far is moderately pleasing – more goals per game than any other team, and the knowledge they have games in hand on almost every team above them.
Yet they have also conceded more goals per game than anyone bar Western Sydney and Wellington, and won two games in seven. Is the Arthur Papas project on track? The answer lies in the how as much as the what; the Jets have looked slick, exciting and dangerous at times, and increasingly so.
Now Papas has to find a way of maintaining that verve while adding some steel to the defensive structure; neutrals will hope it comes off, and the defeat of Brisbane was a promising development.
PERTH GLORY
Needs: a bit of luck. God forbid Perth evade the consequences of COVID-related postponements and border restrictions for long enough to get their season off the ground.
It’s been a stop-start campaign for the West Australian outfit, with the most recent outbreak of COVID-19 in Richard Garcia’s camp putting Perth out of action once again. Star marquee Daniel Sturridge is one of the Glory players most recently infected with the virus – he looked set to incrementally improve his minutes in his two appearances in January.
Perth are 10th on the table, having played the equal-second-least number of games (seven) of any side to date. Now their season has resumed with a loss to Western Sydney, Glory have to adjust to life on the road with no firm indication of when they’ll be able to play a proper home match.
SYDNEY FC
Needs: players back. In a league studded with young talent, the Sky Blues seemed to be resisting the tide – but now coach Steve Corica has something of a fork in the road ahead of him.
At the start of this campaign, seven players you’d expect to start most weeks were over 30. But thanks to injuries, Covid and fixture congestion, Corica took on the Central Coast last weekend with a starting XI featuring only two of those thirtysomethings – plus a 20-year-old, and a clutch more in their early to mid-twenties.
The result was a 3-0 win that lifted Sydney to two points off second. So the key question for Corica as players start returning from injury is whether he sticks with the kids, or brings the veterans back.
WELLINGTON
Needs: a resolute defence. Wellington have conceded 15 goals to date this season, with a goal difference of -9 the worst of any side in the league.
Steven Taylor’s off-season departure has proved difficult for the ‘Nix to cover through seven games this season, with Ufuk Taylay’s side conceding more than two goals per game on average. Hefty losses to Newcastle (4-0) and Adelaide (4-0) were compiled by a 4-1 FFA Cup semifinal defeat to Melbourne Victory on Saturday, January 29 which asked further questions of Wellington’s defensive resolve.
Their next A-Leagues test comes against Macarthur FC on February 6.
WESTERN SYDNEY
Needs: an identity. The dismissal of coach Carl Robinson brought to four the number of coaches who have tried and failed to repeat the success under Tony Popovic.
Now the Wanderers have asked Mark Rudan to take stock and reset the team’s fortunes – though to do so convincingly will require him to define the answer to a pertinent question, one which seemed beyond Robinson. What is the team’s preferred style and formation? How do they meld what til now has been a jarring collection of individual talents?
Rudan’s ability to find those answers lies at the heart of what kind of season unfolds at Wanderland, but a 1-0 win in his first game over Perth is a promising start.
WESTERN UNITED
Needs: an attack to match the efforts of defence. 1-0, 1-0, 1-0, 1-0 – the identical results began to pile up for John Aloisi’s side to start the season, with four consecutive clean sheets in 1-0 victories showing just how hard the green and black have been to break down. United’s fifth win of the season came against Melbourne City on Saturday, January 29 by – you guessed it – one goal to nil.
But this season has shown when the opposition scores, United don’t win. Two defeats to Melbourne Victory (1-0 and 3-1) and a 2-1 defeat to Wellington, plus a 2-2 draw with Macarthur, have proved this to be true.
No team can survive the season knowing a single mistake in defence could be the difference between winning and losing. Until the Macarthur draw, United were yet to score more than one goal in a single game this season. Aloisi’s attack needs to contribute more to the cause to reduce pressure on their defence to keep the sheet clean.
